Grade: 3rd

Month: October


Main Concept

Empathy, Identity, Change, Culture:
Communities Around the World

Guiding Questions

  • How do communities change over time?
  • How is time measured within a historical perspective?
  • What do BC and AD stand for/mean?
  • Why are traditions different across the world?
  • What is a timeline? Why are they used?


Theme/Content Skills

  • World communities change over time.
  • Calendar time can be measured in terms of years, decades, centuries, millenia, using BC and AD as reference points.
  • Events and eras can be displayed on timelines.
  • Families in world communities differ from place to place.
  • Beliefs, customs, and traditions in world communities are learned from others and may differ from place to place.


Key Terms


decade, century, millenia, B.C., A.D., timeline, era, ancient

Holidays

Halloween
Columbus Day

Student Outcomes

  • Students will identify dates by whether they took place before or after the birth of Jesus Christ.
  • Students will describe historical times in terms of years, decades and centuries.
  • Students will recognize that communities change and some things do stay the same.
  • Students will recognize that people live in communities.
  • Students will recognize that different cultural groups have different traditions, even within the same community.
  • Students will sequence events in chronological order.
  • Students will use a timeline to identify time periods.


Assessment/Project

  • Create a timeline for the USA, the world, or NYC. Use their birthdate as a midpoint and show two decades before and after that reference point.
  • Create a time capsule.
  • KWL of communites (Who, What, Where, Why)
  • Make a string timeline: Each student will use a ball of string, ruler and ribbon. The students will measure the length of the string long enough to show a millenia, century or decade. Each year will equal one inch. Place different ribbon markers on the string to show one year, decade, century, etc.


Resources for Students

The Milkman's Boy by Donald Hall
School in Grandma's Day by Valerie Weber
Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova

Resources for Teachers

Harcourt Brace Activity Book p.68: "Understanding Time Periods"
p. 1: "My Community"
p. 4: "Celebrate"
p. 68

Harcourt Brace , Unit 5, Chapter 9, p.313

Field Trip Suggestions

community walk